It seems strange celebrating anything these days cooped up at home as we try to do our small part to combat the coronavirus. There’s no dressing up, no going out for celebratory drinks and dinner and certainly no embracing. These little things that we took for granted for so long have been replaced with FaceTime, Zoom and HouseParty video calls in sweats and pajamas while we clink our glasses of wine with our phones. For how long this will go on, no one knows.

Nevertheless, April 2nd is an important day not only for my family, but for the entirety of the Greek-American community; it marks the inception of The National Herald – the longest continuously printed Greek-language daily newspaper. This year, we celebrate its 105th birthday.

Over the course of its 105-year-long history, The National Herald has printed almost 1 million pages – it has become the truest history textbook of the Greek community in America. It has endured a variety of crises – including World Wars, as well as wars on both of its home fronts, and today, faces a new battle – the coronavirus pandemic.

But TNH has always persevered with its true fighting Greek spirit and today has reached another milestone anniversary.

These things don’t just happen. They require innumerable hours, hard work, passion and an unwavering commitment. They also require extraordinary people. And so, given this opportunity, I would like to say a big thank you:

Thank you to all of our amazing and loyal colleagues that have worked tirelessly for hundreds of combined years because each and every one of them believed in the mission of the newspaper. Thank you for enduring a different type of ‘front line’ during this pandemic so that we can keep delivering the news to our community.

Thank you to our Advisor, and to Eraklis’ and my personal hero, Antonis Diamataris, who instilled in us the immigrant work ethic, who continues to be the embodiment of the American dream, and who will never cease fighting for the Greek-American community no matter his post and no matter what obstacles try to stand in his way.

And above all, thank you to all our readers for allowing us to take another trip around the sun – for allowing us to print your stories so that they may live on in perpetuity for the future generations to come. Thank you for your continued support throughout our 105-year history.

So as we struggle as humankind to get back to normalcy, find solace in the fact that we are all in this together. The pandemic will end and we will all embrace and shake hands soon. We have been through a lot, and we have a lot more to go through. But we have learned from our past so that we can move confidently into the future.

Until then, we have much history to write.

Cheers, even if it is via FaceTime this year, to the next 105 years!